Barbara Mikulski: “I believe today the bill we present takes care of national needs and national interests. I am also confident that it…”

“I believe today the bill we present takes care of national needs and national interests. I am also confident that it will be signed by President Bill Clinton because it takes care of the day-to-day needs of the American people and at the same time looks forward to helping with the long-range needs of our country to remain competitive and on the cutting edge of science. This bill has always been to me about five things: meeting our obligations to our veterans--promises made, promises kept; investing in our neighborhoods and our communities promoting self-help; creating real opportunities for people to move from welfare to work, to make sure that public housing is not a way of life but a way to a better life; and, of course, advancing science and technology, the new ideas that lead to the new jobs and the new products. It is also about protecting consumers from fraud and scams and communities from floods and disasters. I believe we meet the goals in this bill, and we have done it in a fiscally prudent way.”